Just talk, baby!

Raiders' Davis has done nothing to liven up this week

SAN DIEGO -- It's Friday afternoon of Super Bowl week, and here I sit, waiting for Godot.

Well, not Godot exactly, but at least the NFL's version of him: Al Davis.

As much blather as we've all had to endure this week -- from us media types, the players, coaches, league suits and fringe celebrities -- the one guy I really wanted to give a listen to ain't even talking.

Here in the last days, there is Al, and rumors of Al. But no Al press conference. No Al informal media gathering. No Al hallway bull session with a couple dozen lucky writers.

Or at least I don't think there is. I spent most of my day Friday trying to be in the right place at the right time should the Raiders always-interesting team owner suddenly appear and start filling up our notebooks with his usual blend of insightful comments, colorful quotes and bizarre ramblings.

But it never happened. My hopes were dashed.

I had gotten wind of a rumor Thursday night that Davis, whose profile has been so low this week you couldn't limbo under it, was planning to talk for the first time all week Friday.

And not just talk. It sounded way more delicious than that. The word was that Davis was plotting to conduct a press conference somewhere at 11:30 a.m., in direct head-to-head competition with NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue's nationally televised annual state of the league address.

Be still my heart.

It sounded just brazen enough, just spiteful enough to actually have a chance of happening. After all, siphoning away reporters and TV cameras from Tagliabue -- in his big moment on the Super Bowl week stage -- would be something that Davis would dream up. With relish.

Understand now, I wouldn't have just chosen to attend Davis' news conference over Tagliabue's. I would have done handstands all the way to the Raiders team hotel in LaJolla if that's where it was held.

Tagliabue's state of the league address is easily the driest, most boring hour of the entire year in an NFL writer's life. It starts off on a high note, when he thanks us for coming, and then goes straight downhill from there. The topics and questions change from season to season, but really, the delivery and the sleep-inducing oratory never does.

• King: Bucs' defense rests its case • Banks: Bucs' Johnson validated • Banks: No. 1 D the difference • Donovan: Raiders too slow • Donovan: Controversy burns Raiders • Statitudes: Havenots can have faith • Statitudes: By The Numbers • Mandel: Broadcast took its time • George: Super Bowl ads fun again

It's Tags, live. 'Nuff said.

Friday morning, during the final moments of Oakland head coach Bill Callahan's news conference, I sidled over to a Raiders official I know and whispered a question in the form of a statement: "I heard a rumor that Al may finally talk today, opposite Tagliabue's address. Dueling press conferences. Any chance?"

He smiled slyly, briefly leading me to believe that it was all true and that I had hit the nail on the head. I was already thinking up my first question to Davis when the Raiders official said he had heard that from another reporter but couldn't confirm anything like that.

He did however have a request of his own.

"Let's keep that one alive," he said. "Let's not shoot that rumor down. Let's keep the league guessing on that one. Who knows what the man might do? He could always just walk into the media center and decide to answer a few questions."

Ah, who said the Raiders' mystique was dead?

I could almost see the scene unfolding in my head. At 11:20 or so, just before everybody would be moving toward the Tagliabue press conference, Davis would stroll into the NFL's media center at the convention center, immediately draw a throng and then throw up his hands as if to say, "Well, you got me. What could I do? I was trapped and surrounded by reporters."

It would be impromptu in the same way that Oswald just happened to be in Dealey Plaza that day, but it would be brilliant. And somebody would undoubtedly be crushed in the stampede of mini-cams hustling from Tagliabue's press conference to Davis'.

Later, I pigeonholed Raiders executive Bruce Allen and ran my Davis rumor by him. He laughed, shook his head and kept walking, turning to shoot me one quick quote over his shoulder: "And he's not retiring, either, no matter what you hear."

Throughout Tagliabue's entire address, I kept one eye pealed on the door at all times, waiting to see if there was any movement toward the hall. I was poised to sprint at the slightest provocation. But no one ever budged. Al never arrived. I felt like Linus having wasted my Halloween night camped out in the pumpkin patch.

Later, as I walked the halls of the convention center searching for any whiff of an Al sighting, I saw Don King, the stars of the Coors Light twins commercial and those two girls who start a fight/wrestling match in the Miller Lite spot. They all drew quite a crowd. Some with good reason.

But no Al.

His only public appearance all week came Tuesday, at the Qualcomm Stadium ceremony to unveil a statue of late San Diego Union Tribune sports editor Jack Murphy, for whom the stadium was once named. And Davis wouldn't even take questions there.

Which means some of his most recent recorded words were some of his most entertaining. After last Sunday's AFC title game win against Tennessee, Davis was in the Raiders' locker room when an old friend and reporter I know, Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times, asked him what it meant for the Raiders to be facing Jon Gruden in the Super Bowl.

Davis wanted no part of that query, telling Topkin: "I don't even really know who you are, really, and you're asking me questions. I don't know if you're from Florida. You could be from Afghanistan."

That exchange will forever be known now as the Topkin incident -- not to be confused with the Gulf of Tonkin incident -- but it illustrates perfectly why a reporter best be prepared for anything in an interview with Davis.

If we could just get an interview with Davis.

There is, of course, at least one more chance to hear from Davis before the end of Super Bowl week. And it's enough to make us all in the media Raiders fans on Sunday.

Must-see TV? How about when Tagliabue has to paste that frozen smile on his face and hand the Vince Lombardi trophy to Davis in the winning Oakland locker room. The odds are 2-to-1 that Davis will thank him, then hand the commissioner the latest court papers in the Raiders' suit against the league.

Hey, we can dream.

Don Banks covers pro football for CNNSI.com.

 

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